Snowman Balloon

I love the cute character balloons from Clearly Besotted.

I used a Cuttlebug impression folder on Kraft Cardstock and then rubbed a white ink pad across the raised surface. The DP squares are from SU. The stripe was a little stark so I sponged on white to soften the edges. I stamped the snowman balloon on a scrap of white and fussy cut it, tied gold thread around the stem and secured that with a Martha Stewart punched snowflake.
Freshly Made Sketches sketch rotated was my inspiration.

And another one using the sketch as is

The recipient may need sunglasses for this bright yellow. The DPs are from SU. One is the backside of the other.

Tree with Lights

It is amazing how much you can get done before noon if you get up at 4 am. Between other chores and exercise class, I have made 4 cards. This one for the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches

I used Kraft cardstock and DPs from SU. Stamped the SU tree on an ivory oval. I colored in the circles with different color pens and traced the lines with gold gel pen. I think it makes them look like lights.A gold punched star tops the tree and anchors the bottom. I see now that I left off those 3 accents at the top. Can we just say those 3 trees lined up there in the upper right corner meet that criteria?

Hexagons

This is not the original card I had made for The Paper Players challenge

but I woke up at 2:30 this morning and this idea popped into my mind. So then I couldn't go back to sleep. Ugh! It is going to be a long day here. Do you do your best planning in the middle of the night?

I used a Tim Holtz stencil and sponged red along the side and bottom. Used a punch from SU to punch out gold and red glitter hexagons. Secured silver cord behind the red one and attached it with deminsionals. The sentiment is from SU.

Orange & Sparkly

Orange for Christmas? Hmm. When I saw this pick 3 challenge from The Kraft Journal, I wondered how I could incorporate orange on a Christmas card.

I went searching in my paper file and found an orange that had a bit of a glow to it. That just might work. My pick 3 became orange, top fold, stamped.

I stamped Stampabilities stars onto the card base with Versamark and then traced over them with a gold star gel pen. That kept them from being as bright as embossing powder would have been. I wanted them to glow but not compete with the glitter word. SU tree punch. Word dies from Ellen Hutson. Gold sparkle paper from SU. Inside I added a sentiment from SU Christmas Bliss and a punched out star.

So I think I made orange work well on a Christmas Card. Now I need to go clean glitter off my desk surface. Needles to say it did not all stay on the paper work sheet. There is new meaning to the saying "all women are born to shine". I saw that quote on a sign at my local Curves but don't know who said it.

Global Design Project

I have 2 cards for Global Design Project sketch.

They are a bit of a stretch on the 4 square design. Mine are more 4 rectangle.

I have been admiring the cards created in SU Christmas book with the window die. That is on my list but not purchased yet so I kind of created the look. I sponged soft sky on a piece of paper, stamped it with small gold stars from the SU Holiday Home set. Then I glued it to a larger piece of white cardstock and added 4 small strips of white to make it look like a window frame. I just trimmed the ends of another piece of white for the window sill. The cat is from a Newton's Nook stamp. I just cut out the cat and perched him on the frame. Dream is a die from Little Yellow Bicycle (found at Hobby Lobby). That is all glued to a green polka dot from my stash and an SU Whisper White card base.
The second card:

I am recycling the bird pictures from a card I received last year. This has a SU Mossy Meadow background with a white mat embossed with the wood grain folder. To make the 4th rectangle, I used a scrap of white stamped with a portion of pine branch from a Hero Arts stamp. I added some red dots in the pine branches. The Happy Holidays is from The Angel Company (now out of business). All tied up with a bit of raffia.

Sparkle Star

I love sparkle on Holiday cards. I almost feel sorry for the recipient who gets glitter all over their clothes when they open one.  So I went with lots for the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.

Again with the Kraft cardstock and gold. I embossed with Sizzix star folder. Cut the tag from vellum. Embossed message from SU's Christmas Bliss. Die cut gold glitter paper star from SU stars die. Gold thread is from Joann's. You can barely see them but I punched out 5 little gold glitter stars and glued them at random for a little extra sparkle. And another little gold star is on the inside.
This is the inspiration sketch


I am amazed at how many people I know right know who are ill or have had surgery. I can't keep my stash of get wells replenished. So my twofer today is another get well. Same sketch with addition of stripes for Just Us Girls challenge.

The flower are created with SU's Painted Petals in Melon Mambo and Certainly Celery. The sentiment is PTI. The stripe papers are Lawn Fawn.

Aurora Borealis

I have been to Alaska but did not see the aurora borealis while there. I recently saw some beautiful pictures of it online and thought--I can do that with watercolors. Interesting where we find inspiration.
So here is my attempt at creating the Aurora Borealis.

I used Zig watercolor brushes and an SU aqua painter to create the background. The bear is by Memory Box and the gifts from an SU birthday set. The Santa sleigh is from SU's Holiday Home. Believe is a die by Little Yellow Bicycle. Card base and believe are SU's Blackberry Bliss.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

I also needed a get well card so did a twofer but kept more to the original sketch.

I spritzed watercolor paper with alcohol ink in SU Daffodil Delight. The flower cut outs are dies from Ellen Hutson. The sentiment is an old PTI. 3 clear sequins add a little bling. Card base and flowers are one of SU's oranges, not sure which one, maybe pumpkin pie.

Retirement

A former co-worker is retiring so I needed a card for him. I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

and the one layer challenge from Just Us Girls.

I used:  SU Baked Brown Sugar card base, Tim Holtz travel stamp and Stamplorations and SU grunge stamps. Inks: SU Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip, StazOn black, Stampabilities Orange.

Autumn Thanks

A new challenge at Always Playing With Paper has the inspirational sketch

And The Paper Players challenge is Fall Thank You cards
So here is my twofer--though this time it is two challenges not two cards.

I have to admit, I loved DJ's (who is guest designer for the challenge this week) card so much I pretty much CASEd it.The DP's here are from Stampin" Up from last year. They are called sweater weather. If you click on the picture for a close up, you can see the sweater texture in that orange. I made an "autumn moon" by punching out a circle in Kraft cardstock and sponging some orange on the border. The 3 tabs are from the same cardstock punched with SU Bitty Banner Punch. The thanks is cut from the orange DP with framelit die from SU. I die cut 3 words and stacked them to give more dimension. I thought I was done but something seemed missing. So I went searching in my embellisments and found the square gold brads and added them to each banner.
Oh, BTW here is DJ's card

Christmas Blessings

Christmas Blessings to The Kraft Journal for their challenge of "blessings".

I saw a blog the other day that used gold with Kraft. It was so beautiful but I'm sorry I can't find it now to link it up.. So here is my go at gold and Kraft. The gold dotted vellum is from SU. I think the tag may also be form Kraft but I  have had it a long time and can't remember. The angel and blessings are on one stamp from Hampton Art. I masked off so I could get the blessings in SU's Real Red. The word christmas is from SU also stamped in Real Red. I used colored pencils and clear star gel pen on the angel. The gold thread is from JoAnn's. There is one gold sequin on the tag to bling it up a little more.